FROM WIKIPEDIA COMMONS
Walter Ray Allen Jr. (born July 20, 1975) is an American former professional basketball player. He played 18 seasons in the National Basketball Association (NBA) and was inducted into the Naismith Memorial Basketball Hall of Fame as a player in 2018. Allen is widely considered to be one of the greatest three-point shooters of all-time, and he held the record for most three-pointers made in a career from 2011 until 2021, when he was surpassed by Stephen Curry.
Allen played college basketball for the Connecticut Huskies for three seasons, gaining a reputation as an efficient long-range shooter. He entered the NBA in 1996 as the fifth overall selection. In the NBA, he developed into a prolific scorer for the Milwaukee Bucks, featuring alongside Glenn Robinson and Sam Cassell as the team achieved playoff success. However, the trio were unable to capture a championship, and Allen was traded to the Seattle SuperSonics. In Seattle, Allen’s reputation as a scorer was solidified; he would break several league records for three-point and free throw shooting. Despite this, a title still eluded Allen, and he was traded to the Boston Celtics in 2007.
In Boston, Allen and new teammates Kevin Garnett and Paul Pierce formed a “Big Three” and had immediate success, winning an NBA championship in 2008. He remained with the franchise for five seasons, before departing in free agency to join the Miami Heat for two seasons. In Miami, Allen accepted a reserve role, emphasizing spot-up and clutch shooting, which allowed him to capture another championship in 2013. His clutch three-pointer to tie Game 6 of the 2013 NBA Finals with 5.2 seconds remaining is regarded as one of the most memorable plays in NBA history.
Allen’s list of individual accolades are extensive; he gained ten NBA All-Star designations, he won an Olympic gold medal as a member of the 2000 United States men’s basketball team, he held the NBA record in career three-point field goals made in the regular season from 2011 to 2021, and has additionally scored the third most three-pointers in the postseason.[3] During his NBA career, Allen acted in some films, such as his role as basketball prodigy Jesus Shuttlesworth in Spike Lee‘s basketball drama He Got Game (1998). Allen’s performance as Shuttlesworth was greatly praised by critics, and the name was borrowed as Allen’s basketball nickname.
TODAY’S ALMANAC
Question of the Day
What are the oldest college and the oldest law school in the United States?
Harvard College (now the undergraduate school of Harvard University) was established in 1636 for men, making it the oldest college in the United States. Virginia’s College of William and Mary was chartered in 1693 and established the first law school in the United States in 1779.
Advice of the Day
A witty saying proves nothing. —Voltaire
Home Hint of the Day
Take advantage of frozen ground by trucking loads of manure out to your garden now. Avoid repeated traffic over one area, however, which may cause some damage to the grass.
Word of the Day
Stratocumulus cloud
Rounded cloud mass that forms on top of a layer.
Puzzle of the Day
When may a chair be said to dislike you?
When it cannot bear you.
Born
- Boris Pasternak (poet) – 1890
- Alan Hale (actor) – 1892
- Bill Tilden, Jr. (tennis player) – 1893
- Jimmy Durante (comedian) – 1893
- John F. Enders (scientist, winner of the Nobel Prize in Physiology or Medicine in 1954) – 1897
- Bertolt Brecht (dramatist) – 1898
- Lon Chaney, Jr. (actor) – 1906
- Leontyne Price (opera singer) – 1927
- Robert Wagner, Jr. (actor) – 1930
- Roberta Flack (singer) – 1939
- Adrienne Clarkson (Canadian Governor General) – 1939
- Mark Spitz (Olympic gold medal swimmer) – 1950
- Greg Norman (golfer) – 1955
- George Stephanopoulos (political consultant & commentator) – 1961
- Victor Davis (Olympic swimmer) – 1964
- Laura Dern (actress) – 1967
- Emma Roberts (actress) – 1991
- Makenzie Vega (actress) – 1994
Died
- Laura Ingalls Wilder (author) – 1957
- Billy Rose (composer & bandleader) – 1966
- Alex Haley (author) – 1992
- Jim Varney (actor) – 2000
- Retired Lt. Gen. Vernon Walters (ambassador to the UN and Germany) – 2002
- Arthur Miller (playwright) – 2005
- Roy Scheider (actor) – 2008
- Shirley Temple Black (actress) – 2014
Events
- Edmond Halley became second Astronomer Royal of England– 1720
- Treaty of Paris is signed, formally ending the French and Indian War – 1763
- France ceded Canada to England at the Treaty of Paris, ending the French and Indian War– 1763
- Queen Victoria of the United Kingdom married Prince Albert of Saxe Coburg-Gotha– 1840
- Act of Union merged Upper and Lower Canada– 1841
- Showman P. T. Barnum staged the wedding of General Tom Thumb and Mercy Lavinia Warren (both little people) in New York. They had to stand on a piano to greet their guests.– 1863
- Alanson Crane patented a fire extinguisher system– 1863
- Ontario’s first free public library opened, in Guelph– 1883
- German government informed the U.S. that after March 1, 1916, armed merchantmen would be treated as warships and attacked without warning (WW I)– 1916
- New Delhi became the capital of India– 1931
- The New York City-based Postal Telegraph Company introduced the first singing telegram– 1933
- The first gold record was awarded for sales of over one million copies. It was Glenn Miller’s Chattanooga Choo Choo” on RCA”– 1942
- Arthur Miller’s play Death of a Salesman premiered in NY– 1949
- Soviets released U.S. U-2 pilot Francis Gary Powers in Berlin in exchange for convicted Soviet agent Rudolf Abel– 1962
- The 25th Amendment to the U.S. Constitution was ratified, providing a contingency plan for presidential succession– 1967
- Peggy Fleming won an Olympic Gold medal in figure skating– 1968
- Arab terrorists killed 1 Israeli and wounded 11 others in an attack at the Munich, West Germany, airport– 1970
- 28 skiers performed backflips while holding hands, Bromont Québec– 1982
- Bonnie Blair became the first U.S. medal winner at the Winter Olympics in Albertville in the women’s 500-meter speed skating. Also the first woman in Olympic history to win consecutive Winter Olympic gold medals– 1992
- Garry Kasparov began chess match against computer Deep Blue”“– 1996
- Brett Hull scored his 700th NHL goal– 2003
- Ray Allen of the Boston Celtics sank his 2,561st 3-pointer, breaking the NBA record set by Reggie Miller– 2011
Weather
- Early morning tornado at Albany, Georgia, caused over $3 million loss– 1940
- Thundersnow (heavy snow accompanied by thunder and lightning) in northern New Hampshire– 2005
- A rare February tornado in southern Oklahoma killed at least 9 people– 2009
COURTESY www.almanac.com
